Uprooted Palestinians are at the heart of the conflict in the M.E Palestinians uprooted by force of arms. Yet faced immense difficulties have survived, kept alive their history and culture, passed keys of family homes in occupied Palestine from one generation to the next.

Saturday, 18 July 2015

Ukraine’s civil war has spread to the western side of the tragic country. Not that you’d know it if you rely on the western mainstream media for your news.

Experienced ‘Russia watchers’ know that most Russia/Ukraine‘beat’ hacks are to journalism what Keanu Reeves is to acting. They look the part but they can’t play it. Like eunuchs at a harem, they see others doing it every day but can't do it themselves. Even so, you’d think they'd at least acknowledge a shootout between far right lunatics and Ukrainian authorities less than an hour from the EU border?

Our old friend Christopher Miller is supposed to be Mashable’s resident Ukraine guru, so you'd expect him to have the latest. Sadly, Christopher has totally ignored this juicy story and instead has been busy posting his unique brand of non-stop anti-Russian propaganda. Like a Sam’s Choice Joe Goebbels, he relentlessly beats a pro-Kiev drum while pasting a country he has hardly ever been to and knows little about.

Buzzfeed devotes huge resources to covering Ukraine. Hence, I was hopeful they’d have the inside track. Their only recent reference to Mukachevo appears to be a description of how its monasteries look like palaces. Meanwhile, Buzzfeed’s Kiev correspondent has this month published six stories concerning Russia and nothing about Ukraine at all. This would be the equivalent of covering the United Kingdom from Dublin.

Across established media, mention of the Mukachevo incident has been muted. The New York Times buried it on page A9, for instance. However, they did at least cover it. So too the Daily Telegraph of London, where Roland Oliphant broke ranks with fellow hack-packers to pen a very good summary. Even the Kyiv Post, hardly known for opposing right-wing extremists in Ukraine, didn’t run away from the story.

The real story

For the benefit of those who rely on American media for their news, this is what happened in Mukachevo. On Saturday last, the fascist Right Sector (‘Pravy Sektor’) group, which played a significant role in the Euromaidan coup last year, engaged in a shoot-out with Ukrainian police. According to Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Kiev’s Interior Ministry, there were around 20 militia men, armed to the teeth, involved in the exchange.

The neo-Nazi organization claims that a local politician, Mykhaylo Lanyo, ordered police to open fire on their members. Right Sector further alleges that the ‘volunteers’ were merely attending a meeting when they were set upon by blood-thirsty cops. It is accepted that the fascists fired rocket-propelled grenade launchers and Kalashnikov automatic rifles. Now, whatever one may think of Ukraine’s police, they are not noted for taking a principled stand against hoodlums which have serious firepower to hand. Additionally, if Right Sector were really interested in curtailing smuggling, why would they hold secret meetings with local mafia leaders?

Mustafa Nayyem, a Ukrainian MP and former journalist wrote on his Facebook page that the real reason for the violence was a dispute over the redistribution of the cigarette smuggling business. Nayyem was in Mukacheve last week. The Afghan-born Rada member’s account seems the most plausible.

Let’s be clear here. Lanyo is a gangster, like most regional governors in Ukraine. The Right Sector is also a bunch of gangsters, masquerading as patriots. Meanwhile, the government in Kiev is also, predominantly, a skulk of thieves. All Maidan achieved was to replace one cabal of crooks with another. This is the reality and no amount of Western media whitewashing can alter this fact.

When the Right Sector was doing NATO’s bidding in helping to overthrow the elected, albeit horrible, Yanukovich government in Kiev, their extremism was ignored by the EU and US press. Now the same outlets are probably too embarrassed to expose the group's modus operandi.

For example, on Monday night, the organization’s former Rada candidate, Oleh Kutserib, attended a rally in Kiev, in support of his fellow Nazis. On the way home, he beat up two gay men and then bragged about it on Facebook. I am indebted to the courageous Ukrainian journalist Maxim Eristavi for highlighting this and linking to the offending post. Eristavi, a co-founder of the US embassy-funded Hromadske TV, has been one of the few Maidan cheerleaders honest enough to admit the true colors of some of its protagonists.

No smoke without fire

Reaction in Kiev government circles to the Mukachevo shoot-out has been mixed. Of course, these extremists that overthrew Yanukovich and current President Petro Poroshenko know only too well that they could repeat the trick and topple his regime. Naturally a government which relies on private militias to perform army duties is completely impotent when faced with the gang threat. This brings to mind the old dictum, “lie down with the dogs and wake up with the fleas.”

Anyway, there is little doubt the weekend’s events were somehow related to contraband. The south-west Ukrainian region of Zakarpattia is renowned for being a hot bed of smuggling activity, which is the lifeblood of western Ukraine. Anybody who has ever crossed the Ukrainian/EU frontier at Chop (Hungary) or Medyka (Poland) can attest to this.

At the Polish border town of Medyka the practice looks, outwardly, more sad than sinister. All day, lines upon lines of Ukrainians wait to enter Poland, ferrying cigarettes and vodka. It’s reportedly a lucrative business: a legal pack of cigarettes in Ukraine costs €0.94, compared to around €7 in France, where many of the smuggled ‘cancer-sticks’ end up. On the return trip, Medyka’s smugglers bring meat which is, somewhat bizarrely, cheaper in Poland than Ukraine. Border guards on both sides either turn a blind eye or are, more likely, paid to do so. Occasionally the Polish make a few ‘raids,’ one presumes to satisfy some kind of EU quota.

At Chop, in the same region as the weekend’s ISIS-style gun fight, it’s a lot more aggressive. One noted local scam is related to car license plates. While your car is ‘checked,’ local customs remove the plates and insist you go to the local police station to get them back. Once there, it costs €50 to release them. In 2010, the room contained hundreds of them, mostly Slovakian and Hungarian.

I personally encountered the reality of Ukrainian corruption in Chop, back in 2011. Upon arriving from Lviv, I had a one-hour wait for a train to make the five minute passage to the next Hungarian station. A‘friendly’ Ukrainian border control operative accosted me and insisted I take a €25 taxi ride to the frontier with a ‘taxi driver.’ Eventually, he claimed that the train was cancelled, even though the notice board clearly said it was due. When I repeatedly refused, the officer grabbed my passport for‘stamping’ and when he returned it; the plastic on the information page had been lifted off, rendering it invalid. The train arrived a few minutes later and the Hungarian authorities met my problem with a resigned shrug - they said it happened every day.

Fast forward to today and far-right thugs are seeking control of the lucrative cigarette smuggling business on the frontier. Right Sector is essentially Ukraine's largest private army, boasting 10,000 armed members. In recent weeks the group has intensified its anti-Kiev rhetoric in Mukachevo, labeling the government "an inner occupying force" and suggesting it should be overthrown.

Not long ago, the US propaganda outlet VOA interviewed the faux patriot’s spokesman Artem Skoropadsky and he said: "If there's a new revolution, Ukraine's President Poroshenko and his teammates won't be able to make it out of the country the way the previous president did. They can't expect anything other than an execution in some dark vault, carried out by a group of young officers of Ukraine's army and National Guard.” Skoropadsky also said that another coup is inevitable if the government refuses to acquiesce to Right Sector demands.

The Ukrainian civil war has moved west. Whereas the eastern rebels and gangsters are ‘only’ seeking to secede from Kiev, their western brethren wish to take over the entire country and control all its criminal levers. Ukraine one year after the Maidan coup - the actors have changed, but the script sounds the same to me.

Bryan MacDonald is an Irish writer and commentator focusing on Russia and its hinterlands and international geo-politics. Follow him on Facebook

The death toll from a car bomb blast claimed by the so-called 'Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant' (ISIL) takfiri group on Friday night north of Baghdad raised to 90 people.

A booby-trapped car ripped through the crowded heart of an Iraqi town north of the capital inside a market area of the Khan Bani Saad, as people shopped on the eve of the Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of holy month of Ramadan, officials said.

"We have 35 martyrs and more than 70 wounded," Mohammed Jawad al Hamadani, a member of the Diyala provincial council in which Khan Bani Saad is located, said after the attack immediately.

The officials said many women and children were among the victims.

Footage aired on Iraqi television showed devastation around the bomb site, with several buildings completely gutted by the blast and debris strewn over a huge area.

Markets are usually packed in the days before the holiday as people preparing for large family gatherings shop for food and clothes.

The ISIL group issued a claim on its forums saying the blast was carried out by a suicide car bomb.

"Our brother Abu Ruqayya al-Ansari advanced with his car loaded with almost three tons of explosives in the middle of a gathering for Rafidha militias," the claim said, referring to the terrorist incursion into the Shiite civic crowd.

The office of Diyala Governor Muthanna al-Tamimi issued a statement declaring three days of mourning across the province and cancelling Eid al-Fitr festivities.

As the Syrian conflict continues, more families are forced out of their homes in the country. Along with establishing temporary shelter centers, the Syrian government has taken fresh steps to further alleviate the suffering of the displaced.

The list of ridiculous ‘charges’ made by the EOIO against Weir demonstrates that the EOIO is determined to block any attempt to explore the crimes committed by the Jewish State within the context of Jewish culture, Jewish politics, Jewish ideology, Jewish religion or Jewish history. Imagine an anti Nazi organisation that blocked any attempt to examine Nazi crimes within the context of Nazi culture, Nazi politics, Nazi ideology, Nazi spirit or Nazi history. Such an endeavour seems unthinkable. I guess that in the eyes of the EOIO, Jews are exempt from such standard intellectual examination, somehow privileged or shall we say ‘chosen.’ No wonder neither this umbrella organisation nor similar campaign groups have achieved a thing for Palestine or humanity other than to dilute the resistance by use of some faulty Judeo-centric terminology.

To the EOIO, the Jewish State has nothing to do with the ‘J word’ whatsoever. This is slightly ridiculous since the Israel defines itself as ‘The Jewish State’ and is supported by the vast majority of world Jewry and their institutions. Although Netanyahu’s previous cabinet passed the Israeli National Bill that confirms that each Israeli policy must reflect Israel’s Jewishness, our so-called liberal Jewish ‘allies’ at JVP and EOIO are determined to conceal all evidence of Jewish symptoms. They want us to support Palestine but with our hands tied behind our backs.

This must change now. Time for emancipation. Before anything else, before we move forward on anything related to Palestine, we must liberate ourselves from the Zionist occupation that has settled at the heart of the Palestinian solidarity movement.

Let’s review what Alison Weir did that ‘violated’ the EOIO’s so-called ‘anti-racism principles’.

1. Ms. Weir posted a blog on her personal website noting that Jews as a race have been “an object of hatred to all the peoples among whom it has established itself,” effectively blaming Jews for anti-Semitism.

Gilad Atzmon comment: In case our EOIOs are not familiar with Jewish history, I will help them out. Jewish history has been an endless chain of holocausts. No one can deny that. I understand that Jews tend to blame the so-called goyim for this, but one would expect ‘pro’ Palestinians liberals to grasp that there is something fundamentally misleading in such an approach to Palestine. Given Israel’s brutality, perhaps ‘pro’ Palestinian supporters might accept the remote possibility that there may be something within Jewish culture, politics, religion or ideology that makes Jews unpopular in so many different palaces including the Middle East. There might be something in the Jewish universe that made Zionism into what it is. There may even be something intrinsic to Jewish politics that made Israel into a global disaster and the world’s biggest enemy of peace.

Maybe, instead of blaming the messengers, Alison Weir, yours truly and others, the Jerusalemites at EOIO might want to glance in the mirror. The answer is there. The realization that liberal Jews are primarily interested in their own tribal interests is creating a tidal wave of resentment toward liberal Jews within the solidarity movement. Once again, I am happy to offer advice to my former brethren. Stop blaming the gentiles, just take responsibility for your own actions.

2. In writing about a controversy surrounding allegations that the Israeli military harvested the organs of Palestinians in 2009, Ms. Weir responded to supporters of Israel, who claimed the allegations constituted a new “blood libel,” by citing the research of Ariel Toaff, who purported to have uncovered ritual murder of Christian children by Jews in medieval Europe (the very definition of “blood libel”). (See Section 2 of part 3)

Gilad Atzmon comment: Jewish Academic Ariel Toaff did admit that murdering Christian children was a Jewish medieval ritual and there is NO wrong in Alison Weir or anyone else quoting or referring to his academic research, even if it makes solidarity Jews feel uncomfortable.

3. Ms. Weir has appeared at least five times for hour-long episodes on notorious white supremacist and militiaman Clayton Douglas’s radio show, the “Free American Hour,” between 2010 and 2012. A cursory glance at Douglas’s homepage would raise concerns about the host and program’s political content. Douglas’s homepage features the Confederate flag, a video that opens with the title: “9/11 Brainwashing and the Holohoax,” and numerous references to the “Jew World Order” and its “war on Adolph Hitler,” as well as claims of “ritual murder of Christians and children by Jews.” While Ms. Weir was interviewed…. Ms. Weir made little to no effort to challenge, confront, or rebut any of these views; on the contrary, she continued to appear on the show, placing Palestinian rights advocacy within the context of — rather than in opposition to — those views.

Gilad Atzmon Comment: Guilt by association is a popular Jewish political hobby – both Zionist and so called ‘anti’ constantly practice this sport. However, America tends to regards itself as a free place. This means that people are entitled to express their thoughts in public whether or not they make other people comfortable.

Weir is accused by the EOIO of not ‘confronting’ Clayton Douglas’ views; a bizarre accusation. Are we duty-bound to ‘correct’ those whom we may not agree with? Is this a new progressive commandment? If it is, we should have been told in advance. Or it may be that Alison Weir at least partially agrees with Clayton Douglas’ views and there is no wrong there either.

Maybe the ‘anti’ Zionists at EOIO should spend some time learning Jewish history. They should search for the ‘1933 Judea Declaration of a war against Germany’. Apparently, Douglas is more familiar with Jewish history than our EOIO leadership is. Rather than be offended and attempting to make the solidarity movement into a synagogue of ideological collectivism, maybe our EOIO elders should look into all these ‘infuriating’ terms used by Douglas; they may even grasp where he comes from. After all, you might expect a certain degree of tolerance and intellectual curiosity from those who claim to carry the anti- bigotry flag.

4. During appearances on Douglas’s radio show, Ms. Weir:

a. explained her view that Muslims are much closer to Christians than Jews, stating “…sadly, if you look at the theology of Judaism, that is quite different. So again, it’s not that I like to tell negative things about any group, but we do need to be fully informed on this.” (See Section 4a of Part 3)

Gilad Atzmon comment: Weir comment is theologically well-grounded.

Not many people are aware that the name Jews call Jesus (Yeshu), is actually an abbreviation for Yamach Shemo Ve-zichro (May his Name be eradicated) – a unique Jewish vile epitaph reserved for the biggest evil enemies of the Jewish people such as Hitler and Ahmadinejad. When you think about it carefully, Jesus did indeed commit the ultimate anti Semitic crime – he preached to his Jewish brothers to love their neighbours as themselves, something even our Liberal Jews at JVP and EOIO should be able to cope with. However, for Muslims, Jesus is actually a prophet. Alison Weir was obviously correct that the Muslims are closer to Christians in their theology.
b. Acknowledged several books Douglas mentioned when ranting about communism and its connection to Jewish people, stating that she “read some portions of those books and they are as you say, they do discuss the Jewish connection to the Gulags…”(4b, Part 3)

Gilad Atzmon Comment: The connection between Jewish Bolsheviks and the Soviet Gulags is an accepted scholarly fact. Prominent American Jewish academic Yuri Slezkine explores this in his invaluable book The Jewish Century. He came to the conclusion that Jews were Stalin’s willing executioners. Weir is denounced for stating the truth. And maybe, we should insist that our LibZionist elders at EOIO accept that reading books is, in general, a positive adventure. Otherwise, our Jewish masters at JVP ought to provide us with a kosher reading list. We should also resolutely insist that our Jewish educators burn the prohibited books. Because the temptation to read them could turn into a mass collective agony. Maybe we should accept to avoid such torture and allow ourselves to be led blindfolded by our chosen masters.
c. Acknowledged that Douglas is perceived as racist, but indicated that she dismissed these allegations.

Gilad Atzmon Comment: Whether Douglas is a racist is open to debate, yet I fail to understand what makes Douglas more racist than JVP, with its Jews only board, or IJAN with its purely Jewish leadership. Maybe EOIO and liberal Jews can enlighten us so we can finally understand why Jewish racial exclusivity is kosher while white people who follow the same exclusive doctrine are vile?

5. In addition to appearing on the “Free American Hour”, Ms. Weir spoke more than once, and as recently as April 2015, to the American Free Press, another white supremacist publication whose homepage currently features numerous defenses of the confederate flag, including an article proclaiming that the outrage around the Charleston shooting of nine Black church-goers is a tactic in the “ongoing war on traditional America.” The front page of their print publication declares “Civil War II: Hate group exploits tragic shooting as catalyst for vicious assault on Christian, Southern culture.” (See Section 5 of Part 3)

According to her response to our inquiry, Ms. Weir is fully committed as a matter of principle to continuing to contribute to American Free Press, “Free American Hour”, and any other show regardless of its agenda. That may be her principle but it is not ours.
Taken as a pattern, we concluded that Ms. Weir’s views and actions, on behalf of If Americans Knew, contradict the US Campaign’s anti-racism principles.

Gilad Atzmon Comment: In case the EOIO is unable to understand, Alison Weir is not the editor of the American Free Press and is not responsible for its editorial decisions. However, the ‘progressive’ EOIO is delivering a clear message. American patriots and nationalists are not welcome in the Palestinian solidarity movement.

Unlike the Jerusalemites who dominate the EOIO, I believe that patriots and nationalists are the first to support Palestine, and among the first to see the devastating lethal continuum between Gaza, Athens and Baltimore.

The clan at the EOIO seems not to understand that the Palestinian plight is a nationalist struggle and the leading resistance groups in Gaza are actually Islamic, patriotic and nationalist. Not exactly the followers of the Jewish progressive cult advocated by the EOIO.

Since the EOIO attributes such importance to its ‘anti racism principle,’ it might be worth a review. It reads as follows: “Our coalition stands opposed to Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, all forms of racism, and any other expressions of bigotry directed at any person or group. We also reject the charge of anti-Semitism when it is used spuriously to silence legitimate criticism of Israel’s policies and practices.”

Interesting, since the EOIO failed to establish at any point what Alison Weir did that breached their anti racism ‘principle.’ Weir wasn’t engaged in any act of racism or bigotry directed at any person or a group. Weir is a reader of Jewish and American history. She formed a legitimate views of Jewish culture and politics that are shared amongst a number of prominent Israeli and Jewish thinkers such as Spinoza, Bernard Lazare, Israel Shahak, Shlomo Sand and many other thinkers including Heidegger, Bultmann, Sombart, Mearsheimer & Walt and yours truly of course.

The Jewish campaign against Alison Weir is further proof that we cannot anymore trust any group that operates politically under a Jewish banner. In The Wandering Who, I explained that the Jewish left is not the solution, it is at the heart of the problem: while Jews identifying with the Torah can form a totally innocent category, and Jews who merely identify with their Jewish ancestry also represent an innocent mind set; Jews who identify politically as Jews, whether Zionist or ‘anti’ are uniquely problematic. We are dealing with a category of people who are primarily attached to their tribal interests. These people should be encouraged to form their political groups and cherish their cultural heritage but cannot anymore be dominating any universal call or campaign. For the simple reason that tribalism and universalism are like oil and water! They don’t mix at all.

Read the The Wandering Who and grasp the notion of Jewish Power and Jewish ID politics

This revelation makes “current debate over whether Britain should carry out such strikes somewhat obsolete,” staff lawyer at Reprieve Jennifer Gibson said in a statement on Friday.

“It is alarming that Parliament and the public have been kept in the dark about this for so long,” she added.

An extract from the MoD response to Reprieve’s FOI request says: “UK military personnel embedded with the USA, French and Canadian armed forces have been authorized to deploy with their units to participate in coalition operations against ISIL [Islamic State].

“These personnel include pilots flying ISR and Strike missions against ISIL targets using the equipment of those units. Of these three nations only the USA and Canada are operating in Syrian airspace.”

The admission says that “UK Embeds operate as if they were the host nation’s personnel, under that nation’s chain of command,” bringing into question the legal basis for UK personnel’s apparently long-running involvement in airstrikes on Syria.

The revelations have created immediate dissent in the government, with Tory MP John Barron telling the BBC that Parliament had said “no to military intervention."

"Those troops or individuals should be withdrawn from the embedded program whilst this vote holds sway, while it stills hold authority, until we vote again.”

Convenor of Stop the War Coalition Lindsey German slammed the government’s covert military tactics.

“Parliament voted against bombing Syria two years ago. Now we find that the government ignored this and allowed British pilots to bomb under US command,” she told RT on Friday.

“This was a political not a military decision and shows the contempt our Prime Minister has for democratic decisions. This should stop now and we should oppose all further attempts to bomb Syria.”

While the UK has been involved in airstrikes against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) in Iraq since September 2014, UK MPs voted against military intervention in crisis-ridden Syria in August 2013. The outcome of the vote caused considerable embarrassment to Prime Minister David Cameron, who openly backed the move.

Responding to a question put by then-Labour Leader Ed Miliband at the time, Cameron vowed to seek another vote before extending combat operations to Syria.

On Friday, Downing Street’s official spokeswoman confirmed to the Guardian that the PM knew that UK pilots had been involved in combat operations in Syria since September 2014.

However, she claimed that they were operating under a US chain of command.

The spokeswoman said that up to a dozen pilots may have been involved in the operations, with sources adding that the personnel were operating the F-18 Super Hornet aircraft from a US aircraft carrier in the Gulf.

In a formal statement, the MoD said that the UK has a “long-standing embed program with allies, where small numbers of UK personnel act under the command of host nations."

Following June’s terror massacre in Tunisia which left 30 British tourists dead, senior political and military figures in the UK have once again started to push for airstrikes in Syria.

In 2013, Britain’s proposed military intervention in the war-torn state was aimed at overthrowing Syrian President Bashar Assad. Recent debate on UK airstrikes in the region has focused on obliterating IS militants operating there.

UK Defence Secretary Michael Fallon recently said the extension of British bombing operations in Syria was a logical move. Speaking at an airpower conference held in London on Thursday, he compared Islamic State to Nazi fascists from the 1940s.

The Labour party has called for an explanation from the MoD by Monday morning.

A discontented nurse working clandestinely for a covert medical corps in Şanlıurfa—a city in south-eastern Turkey, close to the border with neighboring Syria— divulges information about the alleged role which Sümeyye Erdoğan plays in providing extended medical care for ISIS wounded militants transferred to Turkish hospitals. Living in a dilapidated apartment in Istanbul’s outskirts along with her two children, a 34-year- old emaciated nurse who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, disclosed her seven-week agonizing ordeal of working in secret military hospital in Şanlıurfa, 150 km (93 miles) east of Gaziantep and 1,300 km (808 miles) southeast of Istanbul. “Almost every day several khaki Turkish military trucks were bringing scores of severely injured, shaggy ISIS rebels to our secret hospital and we had to prepare the operating rooms and help doctors in the following procedures. I was given a generous salary of $ 7,500 but they were unaware of my religion. The fact is that I adhere to Alawite faith and since Erdoğan took the helm of the country the system shows utter contempt for Alawite minority – Alawite faith is an esoteric offshoot of Shia Islam,” Said the nurse, recoiling in horror from the thought of imminent persecution by Turkish much-vaunted secret police, known by its acronym MİT. Since the eruption of al-Qaeda inspired rebellion in Syria aiming to topple the secular President Bashar al-Assad, the Turkish government spearheaded efforts to transfer all possible mercenaries as far as Chinese Turkestan to newly converted Wahhabis in Buenos Aires– Wahhabism adopts an extremist interpretation of Islam and is the official religion of Saudi Arabia –, albeit, the Turkish government always rejects all allegations concerning its mischievous role in Syria’s 4-year civil war.

Turkish public opinion in the past three months became increasingly critical of President Erdoğan’s warlike policy in the volatile Middle-East and his popularity rate slumped to a record low of %15. Once praised of being a nationalist and secular politician, Erdoğan’s has been marred by his ever more pro-Jihad rhetoric. They had no confidence in Alawites, added the nurse weeping bitterly, no sooner did they become cognizant of my faith than the wave of intimidation began, for I knew many things as who was running the corps, I saw Sümeyye Erdoğan frequently at our headquarter in Şanlıurfa … I am indeed terrified , I rue the day I enrolled in that program.

A London-educated scion of wealthy family and the eldest daughter of totalitarian President Erdoğan, Sümeyye Erdoğan , for more than once announced her intention to be dispatched to Mousl , Iraq’s once second-biggest city and Islamic State’s stronghold to do relief works as a volunteer which drew public ire and vast condemnation from Turkey’s opposition parties. Moreover, the Turkish opposition parties accuse the administration of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of seeking diligently to hide the truth concerning numerous financial malfeasances Mr. Erdoğan son, Bilal Erdoğan, is involved.

Bilal Erdoğan

Mr. Erdoğan who always sheds crocodile tears for the plight of Syrian trapped between the hammer of hunger and the anvil of ISIS’ extremism, conceals the fact that his own son, Bilal Erdoğan, is involved in lucrative business of smuggling the Iraqi and Syrian plundered oil. Bilal Erdoğan who owns several maritime companies, had allegedly signed contracts with European operating companies to carry Iraqi stolen oil to different Asian countries. Turkish government unwittingly supports ISIS by buying Iraqi plundered oil which is being produced from the Iraqi sized oil wells. Bilal Erdoğan’s maritime companies own special wharfs in Beirut and Ceyhan ports transporting ISIS’ smuggled crude oil in Japan-bound oil tankers.

The Turkish opposition parties also accuse the belicose President Erdoğan of desperately trying to whitewash inordinate number of scandals concerning Bilal’s involvement in transporting Iraqi oil and thus making ISIS the wealthiest global terrorist group. “President Erdoğan claims that according to international transportation conventions there is no legal infraction concerning Bilal’s illicit activities and his son is doing an ordinary business with the registered Japanese companies, but in fact Bilal Erdoğan is up to his necks in complicity with terrorism, but as long as his father holds office he will be immune from any judicial prosecution,” Gürsel Tekin ,a senior CHP party official said in Ankara on Tuesday.

The leading CHP official further underscored that Bilal Erdoğan’s maritime company, BMZ Ltd, is considered a family business and president Erdoğan’s close relatives hold shares in BMZ and they misused public funds and took illicit loans from Turkish banks. Weak, dependent, lugubrious though defiant; the Turkish nurse pleaded for Turkish judiciary help, imploring the last bastion of freedom, Turkish Army, to overthrow Erdoğan’s corrupt regime.

The operative responsible for organizing the suicide bombings claimed by terrorists of the so-called 'Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant' (ISIL) takfiri group in Baghdad revealed that most of the group suicide bombers who carried out attacks in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad are from Arab nationalities.

The terrorist Abu Abdullah, who is currently imprisoned, said that most of the suicide bombers whom he prepared to carry out suicide attacks were from Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Algeria.

"Two other Westerns, one Australian and one German named Abu Qaqaa, were among the bombers," he said, pointing out that only one out of every ten suicide bombers was an Iraqi.

Abu Abdullah indicated during an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel from his cell in Baghdad prison, that choosing the locations of attacks was intended to kill the largest number of people, "especially police officers and soldiers, such as police checkpoints, markets and Shiite religious places." he said.

During the interview published Thursday, the ISIL official claimed that he doesn't remember exactly the number of attacks that he planned for, but stressed that in the last quarter of the year during which he was arrested, he had planned 19 implemented attacks.

The Iraqi security forces arrested Abu Abdullah in July 2014.

Answering a question about the process of selecting the suicide bombers and their nationalities, terrorist Abu Abdallah told the German daily that "this task was handed to the military planners who were ranked higher than me. They [suicide bombers] were being brought to me and most of them had come from Fallujah city."

"I was in charge of the latter step, i.e. preparing them in the workshop that I own, equipping them with explosive belts, and sending them to the specific places for implementation."

Mohsen Abdelmoumen: You studied the Libyan chaos case, how do you envisage the exit of crisis in this country?

Eric Draitser: Unfortunately there is no real solution to the chaos in Libya in the near future. The NATO terrorist war on that country effectively destroyed all political, economic, and social institutions such that any future government would have to spend tremendous time and resources rebuilding the country from the ground up. Considering that the so called « government » in Libya is little more than a political symbol rather than an effective state leadership, it is unlikely that there can be any concerted, cohesive strategy to rebuild the country and its institutions.

The important thing to remember is that Libya, a country with disparate groups that had been united under the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya government led by Col. Gaddafi, is for all intents and purposes, no longer a cohesive state. Rather, it is now a loose collection of tribes, armed gangs, terror networks, and criminal groups who control small pockets of territory and answer to local leadership. Essentially, NATO and its terrorist proxies destroyed the country and turned it into a failed state, one that is entirely incapable of reestablishing a functioning political entity.

Any hope of a future solution for Libya would rest with possible remnants of Gaddafi loyalists, combined with local tribal and ethnic groups centered in the South, to rekindle the resistance and effectively fight to return Libya to something resembling its pre-war self. But sadly, this may simply be impossible given current conditions.

Hillary Clinton is candidate in the US presidential election despite losing her ambassador when she was Secretary of State. Does the death of Christopher Stevens in Benghazi is not an obstacle to the candidacy of Clinton?

One of the most important things to remember about Americans in general, and American politics especially, is that people have a very short memory. While the Benghazi scandal has been somewhat damaging to Clinton because the Republican party and its media mouthpieces have kept the issue in the headlines, it really has not damaged her standing within her own party. Part of this is because of the pernicious impact of the corporate media, and part of this is simply that Americans generally don’t care about what happens in other countries unless it directly affects them. For instance, a very tiny fraction of American have any understanding of what the CIA was doing in Benghazi, about arms trafficking and terrorist recruitment for the war in Syria, about the role of Belhadj and the presence of ISIS in the country. For the vast majority of Americans, they probably don’t even remember that there was a war on Libya waged by Obama and his European counterparts.

Ultimately, Clinton will be able to run her campaign without fear of Benghazi hurting her too much. There is no real questioning of US policies, especially foreign policy in our so called elections. Instead, there is merely debate about tactics. The imperialist warmongering is beyond reproach, and in that regard, Clinton is well versed.

Did Libya today become a new terrorist sanctuary which threatens the countries of the Maghreb and Sahel, before attacking Europe?

Yes, it absolutely has become a terrorist sanctuary, and this is no accident. It must be recalled that the US recruited and unleashed well-trained, well-financed Al Qaeda terrorist groups such as the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) to wage war against Gaddafi and the Libyan government, destroy the state, and establish their control over the country. Abdelhakim Belhadj, leader of the LIFG, even became the military commander of Tripoli until he was asked to « join the political process. » Now he is considered the leader of ISIS in Libya. So, a US asset for years is unleashed on Libya and then magically becomes the head of ISIS, all within 4 years? This is beyond coincidence, beyond simply chance.

Moreover, the US knew perfectly well that, in the case of a regime change scenario, stockpiles of Libyan weapons would flood the region and fall into the hands of many factions, from Tuareg rebels in Mali, to so called Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and the criminal/terror networks associated with Mokhtar Belmokhtar. The imperialists understood completely that a regime change in Libya would be a destabilization of the entire Sahel/Maghreb region, and they were very pleased with such an outcome. This is what I call the « Managed Chaos » strategy, and it has worked quite well.

How do you analyze the current situation in Syria and in Iraq with the strong comeback of Daesh?

The situation right now is complex. While on the one hand ISIS (Daesh) has been resurgent in Syria and Iraq, the reason is because of the renewed international campaign against Syria. Turkey has escalated its support for terror groups along the Syria-Turkey border, while Nusra has been entrenched in the Qalamoun Mountains, Zabadani, and elsewhere fighting against both the Syrian Arab Army and Hezbollah. There has also been renewed support from the Saudis, Jordan, Israel, and others that has allowed the terrorists in Syria to regain the initiative. But luckily they have been pushed back and, in some case, routed by the Syrian-Hezbollah forces. As of now the situation remains more or less stable with the Syrian government having withstood the onslaught from ISIS and Nusra and now delivering its own counter attacks.

There have been reports, and I have written about them, that other regional players, most especially Iran, has gotten directly involved militarily in defending Syria from Turkey and its terrorist proxies. This is the key element of the story in Syria, whether or not the foreign elements backing the terrorists will back down in the face of continued defense, or whether they will further escalate. Only time will tell.

As for Iraq, here the situation is in some ways more complex. The US continues to play a key role in destabilizing the country by arming favored Sunni and Kurdish factions outside the authority of Baghdad. This is causing a further sectarian divide in the country which is precisely what the US would like to see. This is the de facto partition of the country which is part of the broader US strategy which is centered on the idea of checking Iranian influence by weakling the Shia and setting them against the Sunni and Kurdish elements.

Saudi Arabia which equips and finances the international terrorism has put Algeria on the blacklist of the countries which support the terrorism. Yet, the Algerian army has recently shot down a very dangerous terrorist group and fights against terrorism for years, Algerian State having pleaded for criminalizing the payment of the ransoms. What do you think about it?

The Algerian state has been under assault for Al Qaeda and other terror groups for a long time. Of course only the In Amenas terror attack is remembered by many, but actually the war against terrorism in Algeria stretches back more than 20 years. As such, the government of Algeria must understand clearly the dangerous threat that Saudi Arabia poses as they are the principal financiers and patrons of the terror groups, including AQIM and many others. The robust nature of Algerian military and police structures have enabled the country to remain steadfast in the face of the continued terror war. Perhaps it’s the legacy of the heroic revolutionary struggle against colonialism and imperialism waged by the Algerian people that give them such resolve in the face of a prolonged terror campaign. Perhaps it’s the nationalistic pride that has led to such vigorous self-defense. No matter the reason, Algeria remains resolved to fight terrorism at all costs, and that is precisely the reason it is demonized by the Saudis.

You are an American anti imperialist activist; can we know what the impact of anti imperialist actions is in the United States?

I wish I could answer this question positively, but I simply cannot. The sad truth is that very few people in the US even have a basic understanding of what the US does internationally, let alone view it as imperialism. The sort of analysis and activism I’m involved in is simply not paid attention to in the US. It is almost completely ignored, marginalized, and viewed as irrelevant. With the political system controlled by powerful corporations and billionaires, the corporate media controlled by the same interests, and the military-industrial complex continuing to churn out weapons and foment wars, anti-imperialism is unfortunately almost non-existent.

What tools have the anti-imperialist movements and organizations to counter the imperialist domination plans?

What we try to do is to educate people to show them how what the US is doing all over the world is connected to the broader imperial agenda. We try to make the connection between Palestine, Libya, Syria, Ukraine, Venezuela, Congo, Yemen, Somalia, and many other conflicts, all of which are, at their root, caused by the global imperial system. We try to penetrate the media as much as possible, both the alternative and non-western media, in order to counter the narrative presented in the corporate media which serves the Empire, rather than opposing it. We stay active on social media, trying to spread the word as much as we can. It is a long and difficult struggle that, sadly, does always feel very successful.

Is your organization « Stop imperialism » based in the United States under pressures of the imperialist and Zionist lobbies?

To be honest, there is very little pressure from such groups, mainly because independent media is almost completely marginalized and ignored in the US. There have been a few minor cyber attacks against the website, but it hasn’t been too significant. Mainly, the sort of censorship experienced in the US is not overt censorship, but rather simply censorship by omission. We’re not given access to major media; therefore we don’t matter for most people.

You are interested in the Palestinian question, what is your opinion on the situation of the Palestinian people and on the suffering it endures for decades in front of silence of the international community?

The Palestinian people have experienced, and continue to experience every day, the worst sort of oppression and subjugation at the hands of the Zionists, this much is clear. They have had their land, their resources, their livelihoods and their very right to existence essentially taken away from them. This much is clear and indisputable. But what makes matters worse is that many of the countries that have influence in Gaza and the West Bank, and many of the countries that claim to support them, are very much in bed with the Israelis and only use the Palestinians as human props for their own political and public relations agenda. In this way, the Palestinians are double victimized, first by Israel, then by all their supposed « allies ».

In addition, in my view the Palestinians also suffer from a politically confused leadership which either collaborates with Tel Aviv (i.e. the Palestinian Authority and Abbas) or is aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia (Hamas). The leadership has thoroughly betrayed its longtime supporters in Syria and Iran, and effectively isolated itself politically by siding with the imperialists and their regional attack dogs, rather than with the Resistance Axis.

It is a dark time for the Palestinians. Until they realize that only through solidarity and alliance with the forces of resistance, rather than the forces of collaboration, will their liberations ever be won… until that point, the Palestinians will continue to suffer.